Thicker Than Water
by Fruit bat99
Summary: As Vlad lay dying, Danny struggles to accept it. That is until he is granted the opportunity to give Vlad the life he'd always wanted. Rated T for Character Death. Danny/Vlad Father/Son. One Shot.


**A/N **Hello to anyone who's clicked on this little one shot!  
Basically... I've never written anything in first person before... and I don't do much sad stuff either! Plus I don't exactly excel in one shots...So I had the great idea of doing a rather sad, first person one shot and see what happened! I love to challenge myself so um.. tada?!

**Warning: **There is character death in this story!

**Disclaimer: **I don't own DP.

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I grasped his hand in mine. "Vlad..." I pleaded, though I wasn't sure what I was pleading for exactly. A single tear rolled down my abused face, the salty liquid stinging as it slid over one of the many cuts decorating it.

"It's okay Daniel. I'm okay."

Forcing my eyes open to meet his own, I couldn't help another tear from falling. He just looked so frail. I couldn't quite believe this was the same man I met several years ago... the man with so much passion, so much drive. So much... anger. He was but a hollow shell of himself, if that.

"You're not okay though." I whispered hoarsely as I placed my other hand over the wet cloth on his forehead.

"I will be. Soon."

I looked away and carelessly let a sob escape my throat, refusing to believe he was just accepting it.  
"Danny..."

I looked back up as I heard my preferred name being rasped through his lips.

"I'm sorry..."

"No." I interrupted quickly, though froze when he caught my chin in one of his thin hands.

"You didn't deserve anything I did to you... to your father... your mother."

I smiled sadly in acceptance as he started to hack during his apology but I couldn't quite bring myself to interrupt him this time. I wanted... no. _Needed _to know what he was going to say.

"You deserved so much more..."

"Shh..." I attempted to comfort him, now ignoring the tears falling from my eyes.

"I... I... My choices got me here Danny... I deserve to die."

I looked away, sealing my lips tight so as to stop myself saying something I would regret. It was so painful to hear those words come from his mouth.

"I almost brought you down with me." He smiled up at me, just about catching my fleeting glance in his direction. My hand automatically went to touch one of the many bruises on my neck and face.

"When I first met you... I always thought that if I died, I'd bring the great Danny Phantom down with me."

I not only winced as his chuckle started to turn into a hacking cough, but at the memories of that day that flooded my brain.

"I never imagined how much I would learn to truly care for you."

I couldn't help myself from letting a pitiful laugh escape me. "You're such a fruit loop."

He tried to shake his head at the nickname but it soon became clear even that was too painful for him.

"I would have given anything to have you at my side..."

"Vlad I..."

"I know. I could never replace Jack in your heart... I'm just sorry it took me this long to realise."

My eyes widened as his started to close. Impulsively, I started to shake him. "Vlad?" The panic which sprung through my voice was quickly replaced with relief when I saw him open them again.

Shakily, I started to dab the wet cloth at his forehead again. "We should never have met." I said, suddenly swamped with the guilt of everything that had happened between us.

"Daniel... Please, look at me."

Obliging his request, I knelt back down, leaving the cloth alone and reluctantly met his sad gaze.

"Meeting you was the best thing that ever happened to me."

A cry racked my throat again at hearing such sincerity in his voice. "I know." I said, at a loss of anything else. "Why do have to die to suddenly be nice to me?" I abruptly asked, unable to keep the contempt out of my voice. It just wasn't fair. I'd spent the majority of the last few years hating this man when all along I could have liked him... if only he'd let go of his hatred before.

"Because I'm a fruit loop."

I laughed sadly at his response. "Glad you finally realise that. At least something good came of this." I said, trying to make light out of the dark.

"Danny, can you promise me something?"

I nodded.

"Become an astronaut and tell Sam you love her. I might be able to die happy knowing you'll have your dreams."

A hardly audible sound escaped my throat as I covered my mouth to stop it from happening again. "I promise."

"Thank you... Little Badger." With that, his eyes closed again.

"Vlad?" I shot up in alarm. "Vlad!" Shaking him over and over, I refused to believe that was it. It just couldn't be it. He had only just let go of the crushing need for revenge. I had only just started to get to know the real Vlad! He just cou-

My thoughts stopped dead as I closed my eyes in my grief. Confused, I opened them again and came face to face with an elderly ghost who was now casting his sad gaze upon the man on the bed.

"Clockwork..."

"He's still alive for a few minutes more..."

"Is this really it?" I asked, dreading the answer.

He nodded in reply.

"It's not fair!" I shouted. "He... He should have been a father! He would have made a great one." I said before I could stop myself.

"Perhaps..." Clockwork mused.

He met my gaze as I looked up at him.

"He never wanted children you know. At college."

I scoffed.

"Seems his obsessive need to be a father only came out through knowing you, Danny."

I wiped away the tears that were forming in my eyes. "He wasn't an evil man, was he?"

Clockwork smiled down at me as he shook his head.

I took a deep breath as I mentally berated myself for all the times I classified him as my arch-enemy.

"Vlad Masters had a lot of faults but first and foremost, he was just a man who had a lot bad things happen to him, many of which he never told you about."

I looked down at Vlad's body. The only sign that he was still alive was the shallow rise and fall of his chest. "My parents..."

"Weren't the reason he turned to villainy Danny. They helped, yes. But ask yourself, how much do you truly know the man in front of you?"

I blinked as I considered Clockwork's question and gulped when I came to the shocking conclusion that all I actually knew was that he was a half-ghost who fancied my mum, hated my dad and wanted me for a son. I didn't know anything about his childhood, his college days, his work, his family, his hopes and dreams. I looked down in disgust as I realised just how prejudice I had been towards this man.

"Don't blame yourself Danny. These events were foreseen long before you were born."

"I could have... I could have tried to at least... understand why he was so... warped though... then perhaps..."

"He never gave you a chance to try. Don't feel guilty."

"He deserved better." I said adamantly.

Clockwork smiled at me. "You know, Danny. As the Master of Time, I have many... abilities."

I looked up, completely puzzled by what he was trying to tell me.

"One of which is being able to change what memories one dies with."

My eyes widened. "You mean..."

"I can't change them by myself though. I need someone's mind to transfer the... imaginary memories from."

"Why can't you just..."

"I'm a ghost. He's a hybrid. Our minds are not compatible."

I swallowed as the full implications of what he was saying hit me. "I'm the only other hybrid."

"Correct. Plus... I thought you might want to be the one to do it."

I nodded several times, trying to process this information. I could... make Vlad die happy?

"Danny?"

"Okay." I responded automatically. "What do I need to -"

"I just need you to picture exactly what you would like him to remember. Anything at all."

Rubbing my back awkwardly, I couldn't help but ask, "Will it... hurt?"

Clockwork chuckled. "No Danny. You might feel some... slight discomfort but that'll be all."

I bit my bottom lip as I mentally prepared myself for what I was about to do. I smiled, slight happiness creeping onto my lips as I knew exactly what I was going to think of.

I closed my eyes on instinct really and from there... my imagination took over.

"_I love you Daddy."_

"_I love you too, little badger." _

_Father and son smiled fondly at each other before the child suddenly took off in the other direction. "Race you to the bottom!"_

_The man laughed as he took off after his son._

_The sun shone brightly in the sky above the boy and his father as they rolled through the grassy meadows, both completely content in each other's company._

"_I win!" The boy screamed as he came to a stop._

_His father chuckled before picking him up and holding the child playfully above him, much to the boy's delight._

_The child started to let out high pitched giggles as his father put him down and started to tickle him."Daddy! Daddy! St- stop!"_

"_What? What was that Daniel?" His dad asked playfully as he continued tickling the poor child._

"_Daddy!" The boy screamed, attempting to sound threatening though his laughter overwhelmed him._

"_You want me to what?!" _

"_I... I said..." The child tried to talk but his need to breathe between his giggles completely took away from his ability to talk._

"_I can't quite hear you, my boy!"_

"_Vladimir!" _

_The father stop at hearing a distinctly feminine voice behind him. His son, taking advantage of this, wriggled his way out of his father's embrace._

"_Will you stop torturing him?" the woman asked, a hint of amusement in her voice._

"_Mummy!" The child ran towards his Mum who struggled to catch him as he flung himself at her._

"_Danny!" She smiled at him. "Uncle Jack's here."_

_A broad smile erupted on the boy's face as he looked around. His gaze finally landed on a rather large man several metres behind them. Danny immediately recognised him as his 'uncle' Jack though he'd been told several times that Jack was actually his Dad's best friend from college. Not that he really cared. Danny just knew that Uncle Jack always brought fudge with him and that was good enough for the child to like him. _

_The little boy broke away from his mother to run towards his 'uncle', leaving his two parents to stare fondly after him._

"_We did good with him Maddie." Vladimir said as he put an arm around his wife._

"_Yes. We did."_

As my eyes slowly fluttered open, I looked towards Clockwork. "Did... did it work?"

"See for yourself."

I looked towards the corpse of a man whose lips slowly curved upwards into a happy smile. It had worked... and for the first time in a long time, I felt genuine, pure happiness.

"What memories did you give him, Danny?"

Even though I knew the Time Master probably knew exactly what I'd just imagined for Vlad I couldn't help myself from smiling, my eyes never leaving the man on the bed.

I forced back a tear as Vlad's chest slowly stopped rising. "I gave him everything he'd ever wanted."

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**A/N **So I hope it wasn't too cringe worthy! I will very much accept constructive criticism as I do want to get better when writing sad scenes and first person writing too!

Oh and I apologise if anyone thought Vlad was OOC. He sort of had to be quite repentant for this to work :).

I'm sort of considering doing a prequel / sequel as I know there were a couple of lose ends! Let me know if you'd like one or if you have any ideas for it!

Otherwise, thank you for reading! Over and out!


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